From: Ray Brule [raybrule@igs.net]Sent: February
20, 2004 10:40 AMTo: Copple, Tony and othersSubject: more info - A News Anchor's Perspective on "The
Passion of the Christ"

Friends,

Here is one I
feel is worth reading.

I add a few personal
comments at the end.

A
News Anchor's Perspective on "The Passion of the Christ"

Jody
Dean

There
have been tons of e-mails and forwards floating around recently from those who
have had the privilege of seeing Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ" prior
to its actual release. I thought I'd give you my reaction after seeing it last
[week.]

The
screening was on the first night of "Elevate!" a weekend-long
seminar
for young people at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. There were about 2,000
people there, and the movie was shown after several speakers had taken the
podium. It started around 9:00 and finished around 11:00...about two hours in
length. Frankly, I lost complete track of time - so I can't be
sure.

I
want you to know that I started in broadcasting when I was 13-years-old. I have
been in the business of writing, performing, production and broadcasting for a
long time. I have been a part of movies, radio, television, stage and other
productions - so I know how things are done. I know about soundtracks and
special effects and make-up and screenplays. I think I have seen just about
every kind of movie or TV show ever made - from extremely inspirational to
extremely gory. I read a lot - and have covered stories and scenes that still
make me wince. I also have a vivid imagination, and have the ability to picture
things as they must have happened - or to anticipate things as they will be
portrayed. I have also seen an enormous amount of footage from Gibson's film, so
I thought I knew what was coming.

But
there is nothing in my existence - nothing I could have read, seen, heard,
thought or known - that could have prepared me for what I saw on screen last
night.

This
is not a movie that anyone will "like". I don't think it's a movie anyone will
"love". It certainly doesn't "entertain". There isn't even the sense that one
has just watched a movie. What it is is an experience on a level of primary
emotion that is scarcely comprehensible. Every shred of human preconception or
predisposition is utterly stripped away. No one will eat popcorn during this
film. Some may not eat for days after they've seen it. Quite honestly, I wanted
to vomit. It hits that hard.

I
can see why some people are worried about how the film portrays the Jews. They
should be worried. No, it's not anti-Semitic. What it is, is entirely
shattering. There are no "winners". No one comes off looking "good" - except
Jesus. Even His own mother hesitates. As depicted, the Jewish leaders of Jesus'
day merely do what any of us would have done - and still do. They protected
their perceived "place" - their sense of safety and security, and the
satisfaction of their own "rightness". But everyone falters. Caiphus judges.
Peter denies. Judas betrays. Simon the Cyrene balks. Mark runs away. Pilate
equivocates. The crowd mocks. The soldiers laugh. Longinus still stabs with his
pilus. The centurion still carries out his orders. And as Jesus fixes them all
with a glance, they still turn away. The Jews, the Romans, Jesus' friends - they
all fall. Everyone, except the Principal Figure. Heaven sheds a single, mighty
tear - and as blood and water spew from His side, the complacency of all
creation is eternally shattered.

The
film grabs you in the first five seconds, and never lets go. The brutality,
humiliation, and gore are almost inconceivable - and still probably does not go
far enough. The scourging alone seems to never end, and you cringe at the sound
and splatter of every blow - no matter how steely your nerves. Even those who
have known combat or prison will have trouble, no matter their experience -
because this Man was not conscripted. He went willingly, laying down His
entirety for all. It is one thing for a soldier to die for his countrymen. It's
something else entirely to think of even a common man dying for those who hate
and wish to kill him. But this is no common man. This is the King of the
Universe. The idea that anyone could or would have gone through such punishment
is unthinkable - but this Man was completely innocent, completely holy - and
paying the price for others. He screams as He is laid upon the cross, "Father,
they don't know. They don't know..."

What
Gibson has done is to use all of his considerable skill to portray the most
dramatic moment of the most dramatic events since the dawn of time. There is no
escape. It's a punch to the gut that puts you on the canvas, and you don't get
up. You are simply confronted by the horror of what was done - what had to be
done - and why. Throughout the entire film, I found myself
apologizing.

What
you've heard about how audiences have reacted is true. There was no sound after
the film's conclusion. No noise at all. No one got up. No one moved. The only
sound one could hear was sobbing. In all my years of public life, I have never
heard anything like that.

I
told many of you that Gibson had reportedly re-shot the ending to include more
"hope" through the Resurrection? That's not true. The Resurrection scene is
perhaps the shortest in the entire movie - and yet it packs a punch that can't
be quantified. It is perfect. There is no way to negotiate the meaning out of
it. It simply asks, "Now, what will you do?"

I'll
leave the details to you, in the hope that you will see the film - but one thing
above all stands out, and I have to tell you about it. It comes from the end of
Jesus' temptations in the wilderness - where the Bible says Satan left him
"until a more opportune time." I imagine Satan never quit tempting Christ, but
this film captures beyond words the most opportune time. At every step of the
way, Satan is there at Jesus' side - imploring Him to quit, reasoning with Him
to give up, and seducing Him to surrender. For the first time, one gets a
heart-stopping idea of the sense of madness that must have enveloped Jesus - a
sense of the evil that was at His very elbow. The physical punishment is
relentless - but it's the sense of psychological torture that is most
overwhelming. He should have quit. He should have opened His mouth. He should
have called 10,000 angels. No one would have blamed Him. What we deserve is
obvious. But He couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that. He didn't do that. He
doesn't do that. It was not and is not His character. He was obedient, all the
way to the cross - and you feel the real meaning of that phrase in a place the
human heart usually doesn't dare to go. You understand that we are called to
that same level of obedience. With Jesus' humanity so irresistibly on display,
you understand that we have no excuse. There is no place to hide.

The
truth is this: Is it just a "movie"? In a way, yes. But it goes far beyond that,
in a fashion I've never felt - in any forum. We may think we "know". We know
nothing. We've gone 2,000 years - used to the idea of a pleasant story, and a
sanitized Christ. We expect the ending, because we've heard it so many times.
God forgive us. This film tears that all away. It is as close as any of us will
ever get to knowing, until we fully know. Paul understood. "Be urgent, in and
out of season."

Luke
wrote that Jesus reveals Himself in the breaking of the bread. Exactly. The
Passion Of The Christ shows that Bread being broken.

Go
see this movie.

Jody
Dean is the Dallas/Ft. Worth anchor for CBS News.

Here are my comments,

This author mentions Ďwanted
to vomití and I canít say I felt that exactly although that is precisely how
Lorna felt.

My stomach was definitely in
a severe knot and as I reflected on this, I realize that it boils down to how
incomprehensible is Godís love for me that Jesus would go through this on my
behalf.His desire to save me was
so much stronger than the desire to save self.

I also apologized over and
over for mankind (and for me).

I also experienced the fact
that people said nothing at the end and that people did not move.You canít move.

Godís love has been revealed
in an amazing paradox of love and peace in the midst of evil and brutality that
we in North America have probably never seen.

Lorna will not go again (at
least thatís what she said last week).

I will go once again because
I saw a pre-cut version of the video and I want to see the released
version.

I will go because I can
hardly believe what I saw and felt.

I will go because it is
changing me to a newer level of following Jesus, a newer understanding of
commitment and a new desire to serve the one who serves
me.

I will go because I want to
wake up every day closer to He who died for me.

I can only say Ė Go see this
movie. (Bring your Kleenex!) I pray you will understand and feel Godís
love in a new way.